“'It's a snap to put together this hearty soup before I leave for work,' says Charla Tinney of Tyrone, Oklahoma. 'I just add cooked pasta when I get home, and I have a few minutes to relax before supper is ready.'”

Gosh I love this recipe although I did tweak it a little. I used fresh vegetables (Celery, Onion, Carrots and Haricot Verts) Sauteed these for about 10 minutes with garlic and black pepper until just softened. I Used a 20oz bag of frozen meatballs (Thawed) and also used mini pasta with I added to the crock-pot uncooked 2 hours before serving. I did pulse the tomatoes for a short time in the blender before adding. Needed to add plenty of ground black pepper for my families tastes but this was so good and incredibly easy to make.

I made this recipe for an Allrecipes Allstar project. It works fine as a kind of quick and easy dinner, mostly from pantry items. I added 2 tsps. of minced garlic and about 3/4 c. chopped onion, and I used whole wheat rotini for some extra nutritional punch. I pulsed the stewed tomatoes in the blender for a few seconds. For this amount of time, unless your slow cooker instructions say otherwise, I don't see the need to thaw anything first. Also, this recipe is appropriately sized for a 4 quart cooker. It seems a little skimpy for a larger pot. Because of the meatballs, I may have to make this again for my son!